The Words of the Week - Nov. 11

’Bankruptcy’

Turmoil in some aspects of the crypto and social media markets caused a number of words to spike, most notably bankruptcy.

Sam Bankman-Fried told FTX.com investors Wednesday that without a cash injection the company would need to file for bankruptcy, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.
— Gillian Tan, Bloomberg, 9 Nov. 2022

Twitter owner Elon Musk told employees on Thursday that he is not sure how much run rate the company has and that bankruptcy is not out of the question, the Managing Editor of tech newsletter Platformer tweeted.
— (headline) Reuters, 10 Nov. 2022

Bankruptcy Is “a condition of financial failure caused by not having the money that you need to pay your debts: the condition of being bankrupt.” When used as a noun (and in a legal manner), a bankrupt is “a debtor (as an individual or organization) whose property is subject to administration under the bankruptcy laws for the benefit of the debtor's creditors.” The word can be traced to the Old Italian bancarotta, which is from banca (“bank”) and rotta (“broken”).

’Veteran’

This week saw Veterans Day, “November 11 set aside in commemoration of the end of hostilities in 1918 and 1945 and observed as a legal holiday in the U.S. to honor the veterans of the armed forces.” We offer a number of definitions for veteran, a word which may pertain to military service or simply someone with considerable experience in an occupation or skill. There is occasionally confusion as to whether someone must have been seen combat, or have served in some particular branch of the military in order to be called a veteran. While we do not set such guidelines, the Code of Federal Regulations does, and the definition from this work reads as follows:

Veteran is a person who served on active duty with the U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps or Coast Guard, for any length of time and at any place and who was discharged or released under conditions other than dishonorable. Reservists or members of the National Guard called to Federal active duty or disabled from a disease or injury incurred or aggravated in line of duty or while in training status also qualify as a veteran. — Code of Federal Regulations, Title 38 (Pensions, Bonuses, and Veterans' Relief), 2017

’Bloodbath’

Bloodbath spiked in lookups, after having been used as in a predictive sense by Donald Trump Jr (and others) prior to the election.

Donald Trump Jr mocked for posting ‘bloodbath’ tweet moments before race turned on GOP
— (headline) Independent (London, Eng.), 9 Nov. 2022

We define bloodbath as “a violent and cruel killing of many people,” but note that this sense is sometimes used figuratively. The word came into use in the late 17th century, and appears to have been used initially in an unfortunately literal sense.

Notwithstanding these grand oppositions, yet there is no Countrey, either West, North, or South, that hath been discover'd by Navigation, which hath taken so large an impression of the true Faith, as Japan: notwithstanding the Blood-Baths which were made there, the cruel Persecutions, the barbarousness of their Tortures, the meekness of the Sufferers, the infinite numbers of Miseries which happen'd in so short a time, that can scarcely be paralell'd by any other People in the World….
— Arnoldus Montanus, Remarkable addresses by way of embassy, 1671

’Runoff’

The senatorial race in Georgia was close enough that a runoff election between the Democratic and Republican candidates will take place in the future.

Neither Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock nor Republican challenger Herschel Walker surpassed the 50% threshold needed to win the race outright Tuesday evening, CNN projects, forcing a runoff election set for December 6.
— Paul LeBlanc, CNN, 9 Nov. 2022

We define this sense of runoff as “a final race, contest, or election to decide an earlier one that has not resulted in a decision in favor of any one competitor.” The word came into use in the middle of the 19th century, initially with more literal application; early uses included “the portion of the precipitation on the land that ultimately reaches streams and thence the sea” and “syrup that has been drawn off the sugar crystals.” By the end of the century, however, it was being applied to close contests of various kinds, especially political.

In the meantime the candidates who are in the run-off election are marshaling their forces for the final effort.
— The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN), 6 May 1898

A run-off election, to be held next month, will determine between the two receiving the highest vote for Sheriff in the event of no one man’s receiving a majority.
— The Nashville American (Nashville, TN), 27 Aug. 1906

’Pyrrhic victory’

As often happens in the aftermath of closely-contested elections, a number of people were using the words Pyrrhic and victory closely together.

“[Speaker NANCY] PELOSI speaking on DCCC call to members now, minutes after chair Sean Patrick Maloney concedes his own race. ‘Our chairman took an arrow for us,’ Pelosi told members, per source. She called it as ‘a Pyrrhic victory.’”
— Politico, 9 Nov. 2022


A Pyrrhic victory is “a victory that is not worth winning because so much is lost to achieve it.” Pyrrhic is typically capitalized, as it is referencing a specific person; the word comes from the name of Pyrrhus, a long-ago king of Epirus, who suffered heavy losses in defeating the Romans at Asculum in Apulia in 279 B.C.E. You may occasionally encounter Pyrrhic used without being followed by victory; in such cases it still carries the meaning of “achieved at excessive cost.”

Words Worth Knowing: ‘Momus’

Our word worth knowing this week is momus, defined as “a faultfinder, a carping critic.” Momus is also the name of the Greek god of mockery and censure.

And as for such snarling Criticks, and carping Momus's of the Age, who can sooner find a Fault than mend it, I am sure most complemental Apologies will never work in them Candour or good Nature.
— James Brome, Travels over England, Scotland, and Wales, 1700